Case Law

Looks at Aboriginal rights and common law principles that operate uniformly across Canada.

Overview of the UN Declaration includes topics of Aboriginal treaty rights, women’s rights, rights to education and employment, rights to self-determination, and rights to land.

Explores the impact of the Gladue decision on alternative sentencing practices, in particular with respect to sec 718.2 e of the Criminal.

Commentary, in non-legal terms, explains the case was about an action for declaration, not Aboriginal rights or entitlement of Métis and Non-Status Indians.

Topics covered include: overview of the duty, cumulative effects, accommodation, roles of tribunals, strength of claim, and industry's role in consultation. Duration: 53:43.

Covers topics such as Indigenous perceptions of land ownership, relationship with newcomers, Federal responsibilities, Douglas Treaties, and significant court decisions. For use with secondary school students.

Case involved question of whether items purchased off-reserve, but to be used on-reserve, are subject to provincial taxation.

Looks at lawsuit filed by the Colville Indian Reservation in 1951 against the United Sates government regarding lands used for the building of the Grand Coulee Dam. History Capstone Thesis--Commonwealth Honors College, 2011.

Argues that while the initial case resulted in a broad interpretation of tribal entitlement, subsequent rulings have moved in the direction of limiting water rights.

Brief updates on developments on negotiations, judgments and court cases including Gitskan and Wet'suwet'en land title claim, aftermath of Oka conflict, James Bay controversy and more.

Discusses the Stellat'en First Nations' position about the expansion of the Endako mine.

Review of pertinent court decisions involving the assignment of responsibility for acts of abuse carried out by employees of residential schools.

Discusses the Supreme Court of Canada's rulings in the cases Blackwater v Plint and E.B. v Order of Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the Province of Ontario. Both cases involved abuse suffered at a residential school and the liability of the churches which employed the abuser.

Looks at how the Province of British Columbia handles duty to consult and accommodate First Nations when activities impose on treaty rights or aboriginal title. Based on case law as of April 2010. To be used in conjunction with Guide to Involving Proponents When Consulting First Nations.

Discusses the case in which a White farmer was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter in the killing of a 22-year-old Cree man. The accused's lawyer used peremptory challenges to exclude 4-5 visibly Indigenous potential jurors, while the prosecution failed to question White candidates about any racial bias which would prevent them from making an impartial decision. Looks at the systemic racism in the judicial system starting with the execution of "the Battleford Eight" in 1885.

Describes the upheaval suffered by Greenlanders when they were relocated to accommodate the United States military. To access this article scroll down to page 45.

Discusses how competing interpretations of history have influenced arguments used, and decisions rendered, in court cases. Excerpt from Dynamics of Canada: Studying Canada's Past and Current Realities edited by Keith Battarbee and Mélanie Buchart. Entire volume on one pdf. To access this paper scroll to p. 99.

Anthropology Thesis (M.A.)--University of Victoria, 2003.

Law Thesis (LL.M.)--University of Saskatchewan, 1991.

Looks at the question of whether, in a time of a public health emergency, tribal governments can enact stronger protection measures than the state in which the reservation is located. Cites the United States Supreme Court's decision in Montana v. United States, which involved tribal civil jurisdiction over nonmembers, as confirmation that they do have that right.

Looks at judicial case reports and Evidence Acts dealing with the claims on aboriginal rights.

Presents a brief synopsis and interpretation of the issues presented at the inquest, the verdict, and recommendations made by the jury. The two men died while in custody on January 8, 2006, when a fatal fire broke out in the cellblock area of the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service ("NAPS") detachment in Kashechewan.

Explains free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) in the context of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the term "veto" by the Supreme Court.

Workbook and resource guide provides examples, narratives and discussion questions to target law services for the community.

Looks at the Federal Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal Judgments in the Samson Cree Nation case and the Victor Buffalo v. Her Majesty the Queen case.

Discusses statistics, historical, social and economic context of the issue, Canadian state's investigations, and specific responses and observations by international treaty bodies.

Leadership and Training Thesis (M.A.)--Royal Roads University, 2005.

Discusses case law pertaining to Section 5 of the Act, which prohibts practices which deny the right to vote as well as those that dilute the power of voters to elect representatives of their choice.

Examines how courts in Australia and Canada begin to address the colonial reality of the dispossession of Indigenous peoples.

See: Chapter A-2 "COVID-19 and First Nations' Responses" by Aimée Craft, Deborah McGregor, and Jeffery Hewit. Chapter D-6 "Systemic Discrimination in Government Services and Programs and Its Impact on First Nations Peoples During the COVID-19 Pandemic" by Anne Levesque and Sophie Theriault.

Discusses the economic history of Aboriginal people exchanging labour for compensation and the confusion it causes for the resolution of claims.

Report investigates the best methods to address the issue of on-reserve matrimonial real property.

Discussion of legal issues arising from various cases including, the Oliphant decision that concluded that Indian Nations do not have jurisdiction over non-Indians in criminal cases.

Explores the Pala Indians' relationship with the river and traces the history of the litigation.

The meaning of the settlement claims of the James Bay Cree and the Inuit of Northern Quebec.

Documentary about a landmark discrimination case filed by the Assembly of First Nations and the Child and Family Caring Society of Canada against Indian and Northern Affairs Development Canada in 2007 about the treatment of First Nations children. Duration: 2:42:53.

Discusses discrepancies between what had been promised in the agreement and what was later published by the Canadian government, and the government's actions after it was signed. Focuses on education, fishing, hunting, mineral, forestry, and wild plant rights, assistance for agriculture, and self-government.

Focuses on Standing Rock Sioux Water Protectors' fight against construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, United States v. Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, and the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska’s defense of Blackbird Bend.

Looks at how Canada's child welfare system, as part of a colonial ideology, reflects mainstream perspectives which are in conflict with Aboriginal values and traditions.

Two Bands each stated that they would have had the other's reserve land if it not for breaches of fiduciary duty.

Study of three treaty rights cases finds while the origins of the cases very different, the arguments presented by the tribes are consistent.

Contains links to articles by members of a legal think tank called the Project Fact(A), who were examining the trial in which Gerald Stanley, a Saskatchewan farmer, was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a 22-year-old Cree man, Colton Boushie, and was subsequently acquitted.

Analyzes whether protest can be explained by resource mobilization, political opportunities or the construction of PanAboriginal collective identity.

Discusses whether or not the consultation was adequate with respect to the Site C Clean Energy Project.

Looks at questions raised from the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Tsilhqot'in v. BC SSC 44.

Compares Indigenous rights cases in Canada, United States, Australia and Sweden and discusses the outcomes.